Insurance companies now refusing to quote for East London

Insurance companies now refusing to quote for East London

Author
Discussion

Gavia

7,627 posts

90 months

Thursday 18th January 2018
quotequote all
The Mad Monk said:
Don't you motorcycle chappies have price comparison websites like Confused.com and er, Money saving Expert and others?

No?
Yes and no.

www.thebikeinsurer.co.uk

Is the nearest you’ll get, but it’s not that comprehensive and bike insurance is still dominated by brokers, rather than direct sales. The variables on bikes, with mods, multiple bikes, so many different types of bike in one persons garage, that it’s better to do a ring round and see what you can get. Whilst the underwriters are often the same, the different schemes each broker has can lead to a wide variation in price.

CoolHands

18,496 posts

194 months

Thursday 18th January 2018
quotequote all
not read thread but I'm sure it's been said - more people will just insure their bike at an address which is not theirs eg remote family members / mates etc. So refusing to insure certain areas by insurance companies will do no good in the long run.

j4ck100

798 posts

144 months

Thursday 18th January 2018
quotequote all
Gavia said:
Nope. The insurer can cancel ab initio, this means the policy will be cancelled back to the date that it was taken out and therefore it never existed. This is where a policy was only underwritten by an insurer because key facts were excluded, or altered by the proposer and the insurer would not have taken the risk on if the truth had been told.

https://www.axa.co.uk/existing-customers/jargon-ex...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTA_Insurer

They cannot discharge their RTA insurer responsibilities under the Road Traffic Act.

Therefore, in having any policy on your bike you are technically always insured for 3rd party damages irrespective of the information provided. Whether they come after you for the money or not is another matter.

sjtscott

Original Poster:

4,215 posts

230 months

Thursday 18th January 2018
quotequote all
Gavia said:
The Mad Monk said:
Don't you motorcycle chappies have price comparison websites like Confused.com and er, Money saving Expert and others?

No?
Yes and no.

www.thebikeinsurer.co.uk

Is the nearest you’ll get, but it’s not that comprehensive and bike insurance is still dominated by brokers, rather than direct sales. The variables on bikes, with mods, multiple bikes, so many different types of bike in one persons garage, that it’s better to do a ring round and see what you can get. Whilst the underwriters are often the same, the different schemes each broker has can lead to a wide variation in price.
And thebikeinsurer is pushing MCE policies again for me and as way cheaper than the next competition I have to go with them.

There is gocompare for bike insurance too but its not as good as the bikeinsurer
MCN has a comparison site but they have a tie in with Carole Nash who won't give me a quote online or reasonable quote for me at all.. unreasonable cost and underwriter referral on the phone just to get a price.

Gavia

7,627 posts

90 months

Thursday 18th January 2018
quotequote all
j4ck100 said:
Gavia said:
Nope. The insurer can cancel ab initio, this means the policy will be cancelled back to the date that it was taken out and therefore it never existed. This is where a policy was only underwritten by an insurer because key facts were excluded, or altered by the proposer and the insurer would not have taken the risk on if the truth had been told.

https://www.axa.co.uk/existing-customers/jargon-ex...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTA_Insurer

They cannot discharge their RTA insurer responsibilities under the Road Traffic Act.

Therefore, in having any policy on your bike you are technically always insured for 3rd party damages irrespective of the information provided. Whether they come after you for the money or not is another matter.
Ab initio effectively trumps the RTA as the policy never existed in law, therefore there is no RTA liability. The insurer becomes Article 75 insurer amd as such any other insurer with a higher liability has to meet the claim. If no other insurer then the Uninsired Driver agreement applies and the claim is made via the MIB, which means the driver was uninsured and open to prosecution.


Gavia

7,627 posts

90 months

Thursday 18th January 2018
quotequote all
CoolHands said:
not read thread but I'm sure it's been said - more people will just insure their bike at an address which is not theirs eg remote family members / mates etc. So refusing to insure certain areas by insurance companies will do no good in the long run.
Have a read through, there’s a big discussion about this and why it’s a really bad idea amd doesn’t work.

j4ck100

798 posts

144 months

Thursday 18th January 2018
quotequote all
CoolHands said:
not read thread but I'm sure it's been said - more people will just insure their bike at an address which is not theirs eg remote family members / mates etc. So refusing to insure certain areas by insurance companies will do no good in the long run.
These are the downfalls of a totally deregulated insurance market. People can be priced out. In the US, insurance rates cannot be changed without permission from the state regulator!

Gavia

7,627 posts

90 months

Thursday 18th January 2018
quotequote all
j4ck100 said:
These are the downfalls of a totally deregulated insurance market. People can be priced out. In the US, insurance rates cannot be changed without permission from the state regulator!
They are also extremely limited in what they cover amd anyone with any sense buys a top up policy to get somewhere near the level of cover we get in the U.K. the pricing of that can be set by the market with zero state or federal regulation.

I’m no expert on US insurance, but are you sure prices have to be individually checked at State level? I’m not convinced in a land of almost comepete financial deregulation that they’d pick this one product to regulate heavily.

j4ck100

798 posts

144 months

Thursday 18th January 2018
quotequote all
Gavia said:
They are also extremely limited in what they cover amd anyone with any sense buys a top up policy to get somewhere near the level of cover we get in the U.K. the pricing of that can be set by the market with zero state or federal regulation.

I’m no expert on US insurance, but are you sure prices have to be individually checked at State level? I’m not convinced in a land of almost comepete financial deregulation that they’d pick this one product to regulate heavily.
Just double checked and it's ~50% of states with regulation, maximum premiums etc. https://www.brookings.edu/testimonies/state-regula...

The automobile is seen as a god given right in the US (and in many places it's somewhat of a necessity considering the lack of public transport), therefore the consumer needs state intervention!

Gavia

7,627 posts

90 months

Thursday 18th January 2018
quotequote all
j4ck100 said:
Just double checked and it's ~50% of states with regulation, maximum premiums etc. https://www.brookings.edu/testimonies/state-regula...

The automobile is seen as a god given right in the US (and in many places it's somewhat of a necessity considering the lack of public transport), therefore the consumer needs state intervention!
Rather than derail the thread too far, I’ll take your word for it, although I’m not convinced a 17 year old document written when the internet was in its infancy is reflective of today’s situation. The key thing is that US motor insuracne is a very different product to the U.K.

Their idea of minimum cover isn’t TPO, it’s Fully Comp with a maximum payout of c$50000, which in a land that loves punitive damages is nowhere near useful. It has to be topped up and that costs a lot more than we pay on a like for like basis, although the base policy does cover the driver for any car.

sjtscott

Original Poster:

4,215 posts

230 months

Friday 19th January 2018
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Nope no call back.. we were stuck on £780 FC after I said £900 wasn't good enough. Way too expensive

Killboy

7,159 posts

201 months

Friday 19th January 2018
quotequote all
Gavia said:
They are also extremely limited in what they cover
So are the UK really.

garypotter

1,483 posts

149 months

Friday 19th January 2018
quotequote all
Killboy said:
I have a garage in London, and been warned on my renewal that some bikes will not be quotable (Panigale, SuperDuke etc) be covered, and I'm in a "nice" part of SW london.
"nice" part of SW london. attracts wrong sort of (insert own word) scum, thief, wrotten egg or someone who has been mis understood.

I am aware of a harley davidson in a nice part of london that was lifted through the roof of the garage to be stolen!!

Gavia

7,627 posts

90 months

Friday 19th January 2018
quotequote all
Killboy said:
Gavia said:
They are also extremely limited in what they cover
So are the UK really.
Eh? Fully Comp repairs / replaces your vehicle in the event of anything at all happening at all. The TO aspect covers you for £20million of damage that you cause by your negligence. How’s that limited?

One million debit points for saying “should be to cover any vehicle”. You can get that, but you have to pay for it. Oh and a lot let you drive any other car / bike anyway, at no extra cost. Just that that’s limited to Third Party only cover.

tjlazer

875 posts

173 months

Saturday 20th January 2018
quotequote all
MrGman said:
RacerMDR said:
i'll just leave London if the insurance make it impossible to ride my bike.

I'd rather 1.5 hours on the bike than get trains, tubes or buses any where,

Pretty sure you could live pretty far out and commute by bike
How long before insurers start asking for postcodes on places where the bike is kept at places of work.
Bit late to the party but mine already has. Not only do I have terms on storing at home (must be garaged if within 500m) but required to be chained at work (secure private car park). I've got another 6 months until my renewal but this is not sounding good. Like others I live in SW London and finding a policy 2 years ago was a nightmare until my neighbour took pity and gave let me use their garage.

DJP

1,198 posts

178 months

Saturday 20th January 2018
quotequote all
Not good news at all. I also live and work in SW London although I have secure parking at both ends of the journey (garage at home and police station yard at work).

I wonder how much I'll get reamed this year...

creampuff

6,511 posts

142 months

Saturday 20th January 2018
quotequote all
Gavia said:
One million debit points for saying “should be to cover any vehicle”. You can get that, but you have to pay for it. Oh and a lot let you drive any other car / bike anyway, at no extra cost. Just that that’s limited to Third Party only cover.
I'm just back from a holiday in a developed, western country. It was quite refreshing just to be able to drive any car while I was there, because the car was already insured and any driver driving it is standard. Infact it's been standard in every country I've been to, except the UK.

Killboy

7,159 posts

201 months

Saturday 20th January 2018
quotequote all
Gavia said:
Eh? Fully Comp repairs / replaces your vehicle in the event of anything at all happening at all. The TO aspect covers you for £20million of damage that you cause by your negligence. How’s that limited?
Anything at all? Like getting hit by uninsured drivers?

Gavia

7,627 posts

90 months

Saturday 20th January 2018
quotequote all
Killboy said:
Gavia said:
Eh? Fully Comp repairs / replaces your vehicle in the event of anything at all happening at all. The TO aspect covers you for £20million of damage that you cause by your negligence. How’s that limited?
Anything at all? Like getting hit by uninsured drivers?
Yep. Your Fully Comp instance covers it and in many cases the insurer won’t even drop your NCD, or charge you your excess.

If you’re not Fully Comp, then the Motor Insurers Bureau will cover your loss in full, less a £500 excess

Killboy

7,159 posts

201 months

Saturday 20th January 2018
quotequote all
Interesting. My apologies then. If a fully comp policy covers that, then I'm happy.